My Five #21

My Five: Five things worth sharing from the last week (or so), brought to you by a different member of the Browser Media team every Friday.

This week’s My Five is by Simon.

It’s Valentines week and the internet is awash with declarations of love; pictures, videos and ‘heart-string-plucking’ stories.

It’s hideously commercial, and eye-wateringly expensive, but we fall foul to it every year – and we love it. We’re lovers. We see the light, when others see only darkness. We romantics keep the world turning…

Here are a few examples of campaigns, news and stories that have caught my eye over the past few days. Enjoy!

1. #seopickuplines

When failing to report on organic keyword rankings (ahhh, I’m just messing), the guys over at Raven Tools can be found being all fun and creative with Valentines inspired tomfoolery. Joe, our boisterous MD, was especially tickled by some of the cheeky memes included in their ‘Valentines for Marketers’ article, which instigated an #seopickuplines assault on Twitter.

Some of the memes are a little too soft for my liking. Visit twitter #seopickuplines for a chance to read some of the more fruity community recommendations.

2. Social Media & the Power of Love

Good news; it is possible to find love online, and you don’t have to sell your body on Craigslist to do so. Social media is opening the way for a love revolution and here’s the proof.

An article on Mashable tells the story of five couples who found love via different social media platforms – Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr, Twitter and Instagram.

My favourite story has to be that of Sophie and Patrick who met on Flickr. Patrick pulled out all the stops and eventually proposed on a sand dune, while a camera setup on a tripod captured the moment. What a hero.

3. The Horse Meat Debacle

Is it just me or does anyone else think people have actually done remarkably well out of this whole ‘horse meat’ revelation. If I had to choose between cow or horse, I’d go for horse every time. Black beauty was as slender as they come – that’s some seriously lean meat right there.

Loads of brands jumped on the bandwagon, but I have to choose one, and I’ve decided to side with the brand mavericks that are Virgin Media. I’m a big Branson fan (although I’m sure he sold off ownership in VM many years ago) and his legacy of reactive, exciting marketing lives on – check out the Virgin Media Spoof Horse Meat Apology

We missed the boat this time around, but when the next big scandals hits, Browser Media will be all over it like a nasty rash.

(I have a bath full of leftover Findus Lasagne if anyone wants to party?)

4. Oscar Pistorius

Mr Pistorius, aka Blade Runner, has been in the news these past few days, but not because of his seismic limbs. It’s unclear exactly what happened (murder in the dark gone wrong perhaps) but Nike were quick to pull his ‘bullet in the chamber ad’ in South Africa.

Love it or loathe it, every tragedy is met with a barrage of jokes. John Cleese has already apologised for his remarks on Twitter, following the death of Reeva Steenkamp – Pistorius’ girlfriend. Cleese tweeted that Pistorius’ defence would be ‘that he was absolutely legless at the time’.

5. Google + followers for top Brand Grows by 9,400%

I’ve spoken about Google + previously and I’m still a little unconvinced by its ‘klout’, but the figures don’t lie, right? A recent report published by BrightEdge suggests that of the top 100 brands (I’m unclear how this is classified), three quarters have active Google + profiles, and it seems the automotive industry leads the way, with 4 brands inside the top 10 spots.

BMW is the king of the auto jungle with over 2.2m followers. The report also highlights that brands are increasingly embracing social media, with 87% now having a YouTube channel.

There are more and more indications that brands are now embracing blended campaigns driven by customer demand, moving away from siloed channel marketing. And that’s me done. A Kronenbourg has been placed in my hand. It is now the weekend.